[ComputerGuru]

I get what you’re saying but not specifically how you’re imagining the implementation. What do you envision the difference between thunderbolt and usb would be in this case? All complex/bandwidth-intensive applications would be better suited to use PCIe directly, but the problem has always been that for various peripherals this imposes a (small) cost manufacturers would rather not pay and would prefer to have the usb spec abstract over.

[chx]

There would be no choice, there would be no 5gbps USB mode so there's nothing you can do but use a PCIe chip. It would've brought down the PCIe costs over the many years.

[ComputerGuru]

Ok, yeah, I agree. But the world of cost-cutting and penny-saving would never allow that - same reason FireWire lost out to USB. As passive and dumb peripherals as possible won out (for cheaper parts and faster time to market).